Our client was a company specialising in the provision of construction and maintenance work in the food industry.
Our client was contracted by a large soft drink company to renovate one of their “sugar rooms” at one of their major factories. Our client subcontracted the fabrication and supply of some stainless-steel channels, and when they arrived on site, the channels were deemed not to be of satisfactory quality and not fit for purpose.
The rectification of the defective channels involved the instruction of an independent welder, 5 further days on site for another subcontractor, and 5 further days on site for the project manager, the costs of which were in the region of £8,500.
The Defendant company, which fabricated and supplied the defective, argued that it should only be liable for the cost of the welder, being approx. £1,200.
After the Defendant failed to pay the rectification costs to our client, including the cost of the welder, our client issued proceedings against the Defendant in the Small Claims Track.
We were instructed after the first hearing to prepare amended pleadings until the conclusion of the claim.
Despite attempts at settlement, the matter went to trial in November 2024. The Judge found in favour of our client and awarded judgement of the full sum claimed, plus interest and the maximum costs recoverable in the Small Claims Track.
The Judge specifically commented on the usefulness of our witness evidence, being that our witness statements were clear, concise, and fully supported with documentary evidence. In contrast, the Judge found the Defendant’s evidence to be unreliable and unsupported.
A point of particular interest is that the Judge treated one of our witnesses as a quasi-expert. Usually in the Small Claims Track, it would be considered to be disproportionately costly to instruct an expert to give evidence at trial. In the absence of the same, the Judge relied heavily upon the evidence of the project manager and the Judge commented that she had found his evidence particularly useful.
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